’s history in the Foreword by the General Manager, Lindi fluence on the development of electricity and the Mthombeni entrance of Escom into the Province. What a great honour to be serving in The Free State skies are illuminated Eskom as we cele- brate 90 years of At an initial cost of £17 405, the first electrical lighting up South Afri- lights in were switched on on 8 No- ca! Since I joined vember 1900. Although the system had an in- Eskom in 1996, I stalled capacity of 180kW, the steam engines sup- have seen many plied were not capable of continuously supplying changes happening in the installed capacity. With an initial number of 14 the business, but still consumers, the demand for electricity rose quickly there are some things to 535 in 1906. Bloemfontein was the second that remain constant. town in and the first town in the Or- This is our commit- ange Free State to have electricity and piped wa- ment to keeping the ter. lights burning, our commitment to satisfying our While these events took customers and our commitment to contributing to place, Professor Reinhardt the South African economy. Ludwig Straszacker who Eskom in the Free State has come a long way was to become the fourth and many great men and women have left their Chairman of Escom in 1962, mark in the Province. Amongst these are Allen was born in the Free State Morgan, Spuitjies du Preez, Johann Geldenhuys, in 1910. He matriculated 15 Hennie Oosthuizen, MK (Kenneth) Mohlala, Wil- years later from Vrede High liam de Villiers, Peter Craig, Percy Sechemane, School. Louis Maleka, Alwie Lester and Peter Sebola. In 1915 another use was They left a heritage that we are proud to follow found for electricity when a trackless electric tram and many of them have gone ahead to reach system was introduced, proving the importance of even greater heights in Eskom. This chapter is electricity for economic development. The de- dedicated to everyone who has contributed to our mand for domestic electric appliances also rose history and to all those who are currently investing and led to a series of upgrades to the system. By their time in making the Free State Operating Unit 1921, the total installed generating capacity rose a pleasure to do business with and an Operating to 2 600 kW. This didn’t satisfy the need for long. Unit that can be relied on to provide one of the In 1924 a new power station with a capacity of 6 country’s greatest commodities – electricity. MW was built at a cost of £180 000.

History of the Province Although it is the smallest of South Africa’s nine provinces, the Free State has a significant and turbulent cultural history. After many years of Brit- ish rule, the Republic of the Orange Free State was formed in 1854 with its first president being Josias Philip Hoffman. Although politically and economically successful, the Republic ran into chronic conflicts with the British until 1900 when it was annexed as the Orange River Colony. On 31 May 1902 the Treaty of was signed and the Orange Free State seized to exist as an independent republic. In 1910 it joined the Union of South Africa as a province along with the Cape Meanwhile in 1922, the Electricity Supply Com- Province, Natal and . The Union of mission, ESCOM, was born. The Electricity Act, South Africa became the Republic of South Africa No 42 of 1922 stated that Escom should supply a in 1961. After the first democratic elections in cheap, sufficient quantity of electricity neither at a 1994, the Orange Free State was renamed the loss nor a profit. Free State. Gold deposits were first discovered in the northern The Free State’s history is not complete if the gold Free State in 1938. This magnificent discovery fields are not mentioned. Besides leading to a led to a significant increase in demand for electric- gold rush, the discovery of gold also had a big in- ity.

The power station in Bloemfontein

An electrical exhibition to promote the use of electrical appliances From past to present By 1947, an area of about 103 600 km² was sup- plied by the ROFSU. This included four major Escom’s first plans to generate electricity in the gold mining areas. The boundaries were that of Free State came into being in 1938 when the con- Thabazimbi in the north, Mafiking (today Mafikeng) struction of the Vaal Power Station, about nine kil- in the west, Winburg in the south and Witbank in ometres south of Vereeniging, began. The station the east. Other parts of the Free State were divid- used cooling towers to limit the use of water and ed amongst neighbouring undertakings. took over Escom House’s title of being the tallest building in the country. In 1939 the Second World The Rand Undertaking faced acute shortage of War was declared preventing shipment of three supply in the period following the war. Causes of Lungstrom radial-flo-generating sets from a Ger- this included the exploitations of the Free State man harbour. Two replacement turbines were goldfields as well as the developments in - manufactured in Great Britain and shipped to burg where the South African , Oil and Gas South Africa. The Lungstrom sets also arrived Corporation, Limited (Sasol) constructed a huge oil when hostilities ended. The station was complet- -from-coal and chemical complex at . ed in 1952 with an installed capacity of 318 MW. Electricity demand from the Free State goldmines The Vaal Power Station started generating elec- continued to rise and by 1949 a demand of 240 tricity for the first time in 1945. Although the sta- MW was prospected by the end of 1955. The tion had no specific supply area, it linked into the Rand system reached a critical point and during vast network of the Rand Undertaking and was 1949 the peak period from 09:30 to 13:30 ap- connected to the Free State goldfields by means proached the entire available capacity, with no re- of a 99 kV transmission line. More applications for serves in hand. This situation forced Escom to mines and towns were received and necessitated grant each mine a monthly electricity quota based an extension of the Escom licence area in the Free on their consumption of the previous three months. State, western Transvaal and Northern Cape are- Through proper management from the mines, the as. This was called the Greater Rand Undertaking mining industry avoided serious impediments to its but was later changed to the Rand Undertaking development that might have resulted from these and then to the Rand and Orange Free State Un- restrictions. dertaking (ROFSU).

Vaal Power Station turbines Escom couldn’t ignore the rising demand and from 1952 to 1959, Escom started the construction of eight new power stations, including three stations in the Free State, namely , Taaibos and Highveld. Each of these stuck to 30 MW turbo- generator sets and modest steam conditions. Vierfontein supported Vaal Power Station in sup- plying the Free State goldfields and the Cape Northern Undertaking. A significant characteristic of Vierfontein Power Station was that it could do “storm governing”. With the Free State being well-known for its violent thunderstorms, the station could disconnect itself Vierfontein Power Station from the rest of the system. It would then ride out the surges caused by lightning striking power lines on its own. Even during the most severe storms, Vierfontein managed to keep the Free State goldmines securely supplied. When Taaibos and Highveld Power Stations were constructed, they were to be the largest and most modern power stations in the Escom system at the time. These stations are situated 0.8 km apart, approximately 32 km south of Vereeniging. By 1963 the stations were running at full capacity and had 916 people working at the two stations. Taaibos Power Station Strengthening of the transmission capabilities be- tween the Taaibos/Highveld complexes became necessary and two parallel, single-circuit 275 kV transmission lines were constructed of which the first was completed in August 1956. Both lines were put into full use and carried its design level by 1959. On 21 January 1960, disaster struck at the Coalbrook North Colliery of the Clydesdale Collier- ies Limited, the sole supplier of coal to Taaibos power station. Regarded as the worst disaster in South African mining history, 437 miners were trapped in the mine. This had a significant effect on the output of the station as Taaibos was burn- Highveld Power Station ing 40 000 tons of coal per week prior to the disas- ter. The Taaibos boilers were designed to specifi- proved unsuccessful. Steps were taken to trans- cally burn the coal produced from the Vereeniging fer the load to other power stations and coal was coalfields and efforts to obtain coal from Witbank obtained from the South Colliery and Cornelia Col- liery near Vereeniging. After all hope of rescuing the trapped miners was abandoned, the South African Mine Workers’ Un- ion demanded that the government immediately investigate safety at Coalbrook and three other of South Africa’s principal coalmines. The ad hoc Mining Safety Committee demanded that all opera- tions at Coalbrook be halted. Rock falls and sag- ging of the ceiling of the eastern shaft of the Vier- fontein Colliery caused it to be shut down as well and the Mining Safety Committee forced the south section to suspend all work pending a safety in- spection. Rescue workers at Coalbrook Colliery On 13 March 1960, Escom had no choice but to reduce 20% in supplies to 20 goldmines. Domes- and could be brought back into service if neces- tic supplies in Free State goldfields towns were sary. also cut from 08:00 until 11:00 and again from 1987 marked a 13:30 until 16:00. All efforts to avoid load shed- memorable year for ding was put into place but still it was necessary Escom when it was to reduce the supply to customers by 15% from 17 renamed “Eskom”. March for a few days. By the beginning of April During this same 1960, production at Vierfontein, Highveld and year, actions were Taaibos Power Stations were back to normal. put into place to de- The shortage of power led to the gold-mining in- velop the Free State dustry losing nearly 83 000 ounces of gold worth Region’s Telecom- £1 million. munication and An amendment of the 1971 Electricity Act gave Control Centre infra- Escom the authority to amalgamate the power structure. The first stations of different undertakings and to supply temporary Control electricity from one undertaking to another. The Centre was located Central Generating Undertaking (CGU) was es- at Alma substation tablished in 1972 leading to all the power stations until 1988 and could being transferred to this new entity. Escom could only handle 11kV now benefit from the advantages of pooling. and 22kV distribu- tion lines. Ted Nis- By 1975, the Rand and OFS Undertaking was ex- san was at the head tended to 261 000 km² from the original 103 600 of the Control Cen- km², covering a vast area ranging from the Zimba- tre. In 1989 the first bwean border in the north, to the Lesotho border permanent Control in the south, and from Standerton in the east to Centre for the Free State was developed at Har- the Botswana border in the west. vard Substation. Network Services was then The formation of the CGU and all undertakings formed as a separate department under the lead- consequently being stripped of their power sta- ership of manager Phil Myburgh. tions led to them being transformed to distribution In 1988 Allen Morgan moved to head office where undertakings and renamed regions. In 1986 the he first became Divisional Manager, then Assis- Orange Free State tant GM and Executive Director: Marketing and Region was formed Electrification, and later Executive Director: Distri- with Allen Morgan as bution and Electrification. In 1992 he became a its first regional man- member of Eskom’s board and in 1994 he did the ager, Spruitjies du Free State proud by becoming Eskom’s Chief Ex- Preez as Assistant ecutive. Johann Geldenhuys took over the reins Regional Manager, of Free State Regional Manager in 1988. Peter Les Carlo as the first Craig was appointed as Deputy Regional Manag- Engineering Manager, er. Peter Craig as the Distribution Manager, A delay at Cahora Bassa and Koeberg in the early Ken Skinner as the 80s as well as the poor performance of new coal- Financial manager, fired stations necessitated Escom to build more Willie Erasmus as the power stations in a hurry. To speed up the pro- Allen Morgan Services Manager, cess, two new stations were built that were clones Joepie Joubert as the of Matla and Duvha. Lethabo power station at Human Resources Manager, Wally Thurgood as Viljoensdrift between Vereeniging and Sasolburg the Marketing Manager and Phanus Zondag as was built as a clone of Matla. Lethabo (the Tswa- the Commercial Manager. The first regional offic- na word for “prosperity and happiness” – the re- es were located in the Bankovs building in Mait- sults of using electricity) was first commissioned in land Street, Bloemfontein, and later in the Mas- 1985 and completed in 1990. The station was terbond building in Elizabeth Street. The Engi- built near the coalfield that later became the Cor- neering department’s offices were located in Zas- nelia Collieries. During the initial operations, only tron Street until 1990. six or seven per cent of the total reserves were extracted leaving enough coal to supply Lethabo The process of closing down Taaibos and High- for 40 years. The problem of water supplies were veld power stations began in 1986. Over a period alleviated by the Drakensberg Pumped Storage of two years, the stations were “mothballed”. This Scheme and Lethabo was allowed to draw water means that they were placed in reserved storage from the Vaal. The station stuck to the tried and tested wet cooling technology because of the low price of the coal and other cost considerations. Lethabo consists of six boilers each housed in a building as high as 35 storeys. The station daily burns approximately 50 000 tonnes of low grade coal and comprises six 618 MW generating sets for a total installed capacity of 3 708 MW. At 164 m, the cooling towers are as high as a 54 story office block. The two chimneys are both 275 m high. Lethabo Power Station

The visitor centre at Lethabo Power Station

Lethabo Power Station Eskom Centre, the current Free State head office decided that these stations were no longer viable was built at the beginning of the 90’s and with this as operating power stations. also came the current Control Centre. In 1997 Eskom restructured again. The North The Transmission Group was established in 1991. Western Region was formed with its head office in At this stage Natal and the Free State were Bloemfontein. This region incorporated parts of grouped together as the Natal and Orange Free the Northern Cape, North West and Ekurhuleni in State Area (NOFS). The Free State Transmission Gauteng. Peter Craig was the Regional Engineer- section also included the Northern Transmission ing Manager and MK (Kenneth) Mohlala was the network from Boundary Substation to Garona. Regional Customer Services Manager. He was Colin Cameron was the first Area Manager and later followed by Percy Sechemane. After leaving Ronnie Millet-Clay was the first Section Manager Eskom, MK Mohlala became the head of City Pow- of the Free State section of the NOFS. er in Johannesburg. When Peter Craig left the Free State, he became the General Manager of More changes came along in 1993 when Eskom the Southern Region. He is currently a General restructured in order to improve service delivery to Manager in the Office of the Distribution Group its customers. The Northern Cape Region was Executive. Percy Sechemane moved to the West- amalgamated with the Free State Region and the ern Cape where he became a RED Manager. He Bloemfontein Distributor was formed with Hennie later became the Chief Executive Officer of Rand Oosthuizen as Distributor Manager, William de Vil- Water. liers as Engineering Manager and Johann Geldenhuys as Sales and Customer Services The Transmission Group was also changed during Manager (Free State). reorganisation in 1999 and the Free State was es- tablished as a separate Transmission Grid. This A decrease in the demand for electricity due to a included the whole Free State as well as the decline in industrial and mining activities led to the Northern Cape and parts of the North West Trans- decision being made in 1994 to dispose of Taaibos mission network. Johan Harmse was the first Grid and Highveld power stations. After unsuccessful Manager. In 2006, he was followed by Sifiso attempts to sell the station and taking operating Mazibuko and in 2009 by Alison Maseko. and maintenance costs into consideration, it was

A geographical representation of the six Eskom regions After joining Eskom in 1990, Louis Maleka be- nyane was ap- came the General Manager of the North Western pointed as the Region in 2004 with Sydney Makaleng as Region- FSOU’s Oper- al Engineering Manager and Ayanda Nakedi as ations and Regional Sales and Customer Services Manager. Maintenance Louis’s vision for the future was to see the North Manager and Western Region become a power to be reckoned D a p h n e with within the REDs (Regional Electricity Distribu- Mokwena as tors). When he left the Region in 2009, he be- Asset Crea- Molefi Rantsonyane (left) and came the General Manager of the Northern Re- tions Manager Daphne Mokwena gion. He later acted as the Divisional Manager for in 2012. Distribution before he became Senior General

Manager in the office of the Distribution Group Executive. Louis was followed up by Alwie Lester Present days in the Free State Operating Unit who started as General Manager of the North Today electricity use in the Free State totals Western Region in May 2009. When Alwie hand- 4.65% of national demand which comes down to 1 ed over the reins to Peter Sebola in 2011, Alwie 719 MW. 44 480 km of lines, 11 transmission became the General Manager of the Western Re- substations and 284 distribution substations are gion and then of the Western Cape Operating spread across the Province. Eskom in the Free Unit. State has a customer base of 233 115 with Another big change came about in 2011 when the 91.04% being residential, 0.09% being municipal six Distribution regions were split into nine Operat- and 8.87% being industrial, mining, commercial ing Units largely following the provincial borders. and agricultural customers. The North Western Region was split up and the The Free State Operating Unit (FSOU) is divided Free State Operating Unit (FSOU) was formed into two zones, namely the Bloemfontein and with Lindi Mthombeni as General Manager. The Bethlehem Zones. These zones are divided into former General Manager Peter Sebola moved on four sectors forming the Bloemfontein, Bethlehem, to become the General Manager of the newly es- and Welkom Sectors. tablished Gauteng Operating Unit. Molefi Rantso-

A geographical representation of the Free State Operating Unit The FSOU has revenue of R3.4 billion which is divided as follows: municipalities 35%, agriculture 9%, residential 5%, mining 42%, commercial 4%, industrial 2% and other 3%. 808 staff members are employed in Generation, 1 555 in Distribution and 104 in Transmission. The 2010/2011 financial year saw capital expan- sion and refurbishment to the value of R200 million being done on the Distribution network and 1.498 billion on the Transmission network with a planned spending of respectively R1.08 billion and R1.498 billion envisaged for the five years to follow. Damage to infrastructure caused by a tor- Future investments in the Transmission network nado in Tholong in June 2012. include the strengthening of the Greater Cape and Bloemfontein network as well as the Cape network South Africa’s power system is still constraint and and the strengthening of the Bloemfontein network will be tight until the construction of the new power and support of the growing loads in the Lesotho stations Medupi, Kusile and Ingula have been network. completed. From inception to date, 194 602 household con- 2008 saw a tough year for Eskom when it was nections have been made, further lighting up the forced to implement load shedding due to national Free State province. demand reaching levels higher than Eskom’s sup- Since January 2010, the Eskom Development ply. To prevent this from happening again, The Foundation (EDF) has invested over R2.4 million Demand Side Management (DSM) programme in the Free State in various causes. Amongst oth- was introduced to induce cost savings. In the Free ers, beneficiaries included schools, the Red Cross State, 2.1 million Compact Fluorescent Light Bulbs (in aid of the Meqheleng tornado victims), FET col- (CFLs), 14 684 solar water geysers and 24 897 ripple control units were installed from 2007 to leges and small businesses. date. In 2010/11 a total of R128 million was in- The FSOU faces some challenges. This includes vested in the DSM programme. More energy effi- residential energy losses ranging from 19% to 31% ciency project rollouts and rebate programmes in townships as well as vandalism and theft. The- have followed and are still continuing. Successful se issues are being addressed by Operation geyser load management projects were imple- Khanyisa and Revenue Protection audits. Munici- mented in the Mangaung Metro as well as the pal debt, normalisation of the networks and up- Southern Free State towns where Centlec has grading of prepayment technology also pose great Service Delivery Agreements with these municipal- challenges. Adverse weather conditions such as ities, resulting in significant savings. Projects in tornados striking the province in 2011 and 2012 as Maluti-A-Phofung and Setsoto municipalities are well as snow fall, have caused great damage but currently completing implementation and savings the dedication and hard work of staff contributed to achieved are being verified. In the industrial sec- the swift restoration of electricity to affected areas. tor, efficient motors, air conditioning and heat pumps are some of the initiatives being undertak- en at the mines in the Welkom area. Projects are currently in implementation at Goldfields, Harmony and Anglo Gold Ashanti. The Integrated Resource Plan (IRP) for electricity published in March 2011 made provision for Inde- pendent Power Producers (IPPs) to supply renew- able energy to be pumped into the National Grid. As part of this programme, a solar photovoltaic power plant with a net capacity of 64 MW will be built in the Bloemfontein area. In November 2011, Lethabo Power Station made its contribution towards energy efficiency when it launched a photovoltaic power plant with a peak- Snowfall in the Eastern Free State during ing capacity of 575 kW and a yearly production August 2012 potential of 1.25 million kWh. The project was in- augurated by Public Enterprises Minister Malusi Gigaba on the 21st of November. The plant pro- flow transferred from the Lesotho Mountains into vides power during daylight hours for Lethabo’s the Ash River as part of the Lesotho Highlands administration buildings and reduces the facility’s Water Project. This electricity is then sold to auxiliary power consumption. Eskom and the Dihlabeng Municipality. The first privately owned commercial hydropower By 2013 Sasol in Sasolburg plans to provide itself project undertaken in South Africa in 22 years was with 60% of the electricity it uses. Construction of launched when Bethlehem hydro commissioned its the 140 MW gas power station of R1.8 billion start- Sol Plaatje (2.5 MW) and Merino (3.6 MW) power ed in June 2011 and should be completed by end stations in July/August 2009 and April 2010 re- 2012. This will replace coal electricity generation spectively. The project generates approximately and will reduce carbon emissions in Sasolburg by 6.1 MW of renewable energy from the continuous 1 million ton per year.

Sol Plaatje Power Station intake basin 3.6 MW Merino Power Station sluice-gates

Sasol’s manufacturing plant in Sasolburg The way forward: Our vision environment is harmed in any way after deal- ing with Eskom. As seen through the eyes of the GM, Lindi Mthombeni I envision an Operating Unit where no cus- tomer is unsure about the reliability of supply to his/her home or business. I envision an Operating Unit where custom- ers are satisfied with the value they receive for their money. I envision an Operating Unit where all em- ployees are treated fairly and justly. I envision an Operating Unit where pension- ers can look back fondly at their years spent at Eskom while retiring in peace and comfort. I envision an Operating Unit where everyone has access to electricity.

Maybe all of this won’t happen in my years in the When the Free State Operating Unit was estab- FSOU but I can certainly contribute a few of the lished in 2011, I made it my mission to establishing bricks needed to build the heritage that those to a Free State family where employees look out for come will look back on and write about. I am privi- each other and where they feel safe. Our staff leged to work with a highly skilled, highly experi- members’ families entrust us with their lives and enced and committed team who share my vision their livelihood. We have a great responsibility to- and with whom I can entrust my goals for our Free wards them. State Operating Unit. The past 90 years have This is how I see the Free State Operate Unit: been known for both highlights and lowlights but overall the history is a positive one. Let us make I envision an Operating Unit where no em- the next 90 years even better! ployee, member of the public or part of the